More than just a summer destination

Editor's note: As the Ledger celebrates its 175th anniversary, we look at some of the places that have defined the South Shore over the years. This week we visit Plymouth's Manomet Beach.

Sara Feijo

Editor's note: As the Ledger celebrates its 175th anniversary, we look at some of the places that have defined the South Shore over the years. This week we visit Plymouth's Manomet Beach.

As the legend goes, Helen and Rowland were in love and wanted to marry, but Helen’s father forbade it. Distraught by her father’s decision, Helen rode a white horse into the water off Manomet, a village in the southern area of Plymouth, and was never seen again.

And that, locals say, is how White Horse beach in Manomet got its name.

Settled in 1639, Manomet was a farming community until the 1800s when trolley service made it a tourist destination, Manomet branch librarian Jennifer Jones said.

Trolley service started at the Hotel Pilgrim on Warren Avenue and brought riders as far as the White Horse General Store on White Horse Road in Manomet. The trolley line was extended south to Fresh Pond in 1899.

Today, nearly 122 years later, the village is still a thriving summer community.

“Manomet still is that beach community that developed in the early 1900s,” Jones said.

Surrounded by rock walls on each end, White Horse Beach is a popular vacation resort.

Also popular are Priscilla Beach, a private beach, and Fresh Pond, a 62-acre pond.

It has two elementary schools, a Plymouth branch library and several small businesses.

Rye Tavern on Old Sandwich Road operates in a building that was a tavern in the 1700s, Jones said. One of its chimneys was built in 1792.

Although the village experiences an influx of people during summer months, it still has a large year round population, Jones said.

“...There’s a lot going on in the summer and winter,” said Jones, who has lived in Plymouth for 15 years.

Sara Feijo may be reached at sfeijo@ledger.com.

Manomet at a glance

Manomet was originally a farming community. Trolley service allowed people to visit the village.
Manomet’s population grows substantially in the summer, just as it has for many decades.
A Coast Guard station was built at Manomet Point in 1900. It operated until the late 1940s and was dismantled about a decade later. The land was sold.
Old Sandwich Road was the main postal and stagecoach road from Plymouth to Sandwich. There were taverns along the road where travelers could refresh and have a meal.

What to see

White Horse Beach has rock walls at each end and was named for a legend about a woman who rode her white horse into the water when her father would not let her marry.
Rye Tavern, a restaurant on Old Sandwich Road, operates in a building that was a tavern in the 1700s. One of its chimneys dates to 1792.
Second Congregational Church, built in 1826, was the first church in Manomet.